FEMA Deadline Extended 30 Days for Sandy Flood Insurance Appeals

A house being raised following Superstorm Sandy damage. (Photo: Daniel Nee)

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has decided to grant a 30 day deadline extension to victims of Superstorm Sandy who are interested in filing an appeal of their flood insurance settlement.

The announcement of FEMA’s decision was distributed by the office of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who said he came through with a promise to “hold FEMA’s feet to the fire and ensure the process was fair and not a repeat of the first attempt.”

The deadline to file appeals was Tuesday. The new deadline is Oct. 15, 2015.

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“This 30 day extension will help keep that promise and give Sandy survivors the time they need to understand the rules, opt in and have their claim reviewed,” Menendez said in a statement.

FEMA announced it would open up all Sandy claims to potential review after a segment on the CBS newsmagazine “60 Minutes” exposed discrepancies in engineering reports used to calculate the value of damages homes sustained during the storm. In addition to uncovering the modified engineering reports, the story brought forth allegations that FEMA officials knew the fraudulent practices were occurring and did nothing about while hurricane victims, in some cases, lost their homes due to inadequate settlements from their flood insurance carriers.

Via Twitter, Menendez also announced an agreement reached with FEMA that the federal agency would not require homeowners to pay back as much as $20,000 if money from a reopened claim intersected with other federal storm recovery funding the same homeowner received to help rebuild a home.